Ramblings for April 7

[Garland, Lorie]

Ramblings for April 7, 2009

 

Please accept my apologies for the delay in getting this out to you all.  Hope you had a wonderful Easter holiday!

 

President Steve opened our meeting.

 

Bruce Williams was playing beautifully today!  

 

Dave O'Connell gave the invocation

 

Jimmy Weatherspoon led us in songs #6-America the Beautiful and #69- Smile

 

Al Seldomridge tuned 80 years young - Happy Birthday!

 

Sid Bremen is celebrating his 42nd anniversary married to the same woman!  Congratulations!

 

Harvey Brown gave us an update on the North Korean missile (satellite, I believe) launch...it seems it fell apart before reaching its destination.  In retaliation we launched the Atlas 5 7 ton satellite which fell into a perfect elliptical orbit around the earth!

 

Please remember District Conference is May 1-3.  We need lots of help for the KY Derby Gala on May 2.  Get out your hats!  There will be a contest for the best hat for both men and women at the Gala.  It's rumored that Governor Charlie Crist will be in attendance for some of District Conference.

 

Bill Adams presented Leo Phillips with his 4th Paul Harris Fellow.  Congratulations!

 

Sgt. Candice Etzler gave her report.  Overall $187.00 was raised today.

 

Our district welcomes 2 new clubs - Boca West (Portuguese speaking club) and Vero Oceanside

 

Craig introduced our speaker, Elizabeth Mitchell.  She was born in Jamaica but moved to Boca in 1975.  She is the mother of 5 children and travels extensively on mission trips each year.  She has written a book about James, her son, and his battles with heart failure.

 

James was born March 23, 1993.  As most babies are given to their mothers fairly soon after being born, James was not.  Mrs. Mitchell kept asking if her son was ok.  No one said a word.  Eventually, the neonatologist came into her room and explained that her son had been born with many issues with his heart.

 

This began many trips to various children's hospitals and many surgeries over the years.  It was very hard for her to see her son with so many medical issues, so many scars on his chest from all the surgeries he endured.  She was always amazed at James's resilience.  He was truly remarkable and handled all of the issues with a positive attitude.

 

The heart problems continued as James grew.  The Mitchells were told that a heart transplant was James's only option for survival.  He was put on the transplant list to receive a heart.  There were not many children's hearts being donated. Miraculously, a heart was donated and James received the transplant that saved his life.  He was only 5 years old.

 

He lived a strong life for the next 8 years.  At 13 ½ the family's worst fears were confirmed. James' heart rejected.  He had one heart attack followed by another and then he was gone.  His mother struggled to deal with what it was like to have a child so seriously ill and then how painful it was to lose him.

 

She used James' example to deal with the tragedy.  James had lived a miraculous life with the most positive attitude.  He had managed to enjoy the time he spent on the earth with great zest.

Mrs. Mitchell honored her son by using his example to cope with her feelings of great loss and despair.  She knew she had a choice - to be angry and wallow in self pity over what she had lost.

Or, to use this lesson in her life to make a positive difference for her and for people she touched.

 

Mrs. Mitchell decided to live each of her days by five rules:

 

1.	She would keep her pity parties very short - a timer would be set to allow only 5 minutes
2.	She understood that she was not the only one having a tough time in life so she pledged to focus on others and found that it was truly a blessing to her.
3.	In spite of the difficulties, she makes deposits into her "friendship banks." She stays in touch with her friends regardless of the circumstances and not just when tragedy strikes.
4.	She doesn't despair-she grows and learns the lessons her life is teaching her instead.  She realizes that life is truly a gift to enjoy and be happy.
5.	We have the choice over how we live our lives.  We can choose to be grumpy or grateful each day.  Life cannot be based on what used to be.  Choose Joy - Be grateful!

 

Mrs. Mitchell did a short reading from her book.  Then she reminded us that her faith in the Lord carried her through her difficulties.  She turned toward the Lord, not away in anger.  She encourages us to look to the Lord in his strength.

 

Our Green Hat is at $456.50.  Leo Phillips drew the 7 of spades.  Better luck next week.

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